[net.audio] Record Pads

wjm@whuxl.UUCP (MITCHELL) (08/02/84)

,gulp>
My experience has been that many high-end turntables (including my Mission 775)
do NOT use any pads at all.   What they do use to damp out resonances is a
weight at the center of the record which clamps to the spindle of the turntable.
This reduces one source of distortion, slipping between the table and the record
as well as potential resonances from the air pocket between them.  If you want
to experiment, I believe either Discwasher or Audio-Technica make them and they
sell for around $25.
My experience is that they do produce a cleaner (less distorted, especially in
the bass, most noticable on direct-to-disk recordings) sound in A/B comparisons
of the same record with and without the weight.
Bill Mitchell (whuxl!wjm)